Linguine in squid-ink sauce with pan-seared scallops

I remember the first time I had squid ink, triggering a lifelong love for the taste. I was around 8 years old, and one weekend when I was over at Sami’s, his father made “cumi masak hitam”, literally translated as “squid cooked black”, which is essentially squid cooked in its own ink.

He first cleaned the squids, removing the plastic-like soft cartilage from inside the squids’ heads/body, and squeezed the ink sacs through to show me. He cooked the sliced squid rings in some butter, with garlic and onions and shallots, and we ate it with hot steamed white rice. I remember tasting the squid ink sauce for the first time; it was a savoury, briny flavour unlike any other I’ve tasted before. I was hooked! My uncle’s way, so simple, so good! Squid cooked in its own ink is a common way to serve squid in Jakarta and I eat this often when in Indonesia.

When I moved to Italy with the handsome-and-talented husband, the risotto al nero di seppia con gamberi, risotto in squid-ink with prawns, rekindled my love for squid ink. Totally unromantic though, since it left your tongue, teeth and lips black. Maybe the squid-ink pasta was invented to allow the eating of squid-ink dishes without killing the romance on date nights. In any case, I’ve seen some very pretty examples of black squid-ink pasta on Pinterest such as this…

I much prefer the squid-ink as a sauce, however. When it’s added to pasta dough and made into black pasta, there’s barely squid-ink flavour and the effect is purely visual. So I use regular pasta instead, and make a squid-ink sauce which has flavour punch, and visual effect on your plate, as well as a Gothic look for the diner. The handsome-and-talented husband still loves me with squid-ink-stained lips, though, so that’s all that matters. Recipe below.

What you need, for 2 people

250g of long pasta, ideally linguine but spaghetti will do

1-2 cloves of minced fresh garlic, to taste

fish stock: as a general rule, I use the same amount in liquid fish stock as pasta, so here approximately 200ml/2 cups

squid ink: I use 1-2 4ml sachets per person

a handful of sugar snap peas: washed and dried

unsalted butter: as a general rule, the amount of butter I use is in direct proportion to the squid ink, more butter = more squid ink

8-10 fat scallops

Make the sauce

Start with a cold saucepan and heat the fish stock together with the garlic over a medium heat. Leave to simmer, then add the butter, whisking continuously until the butter has been incorporated into the stock.

Make the pasta and sugar-snap peas

In a pot, bring the approximately 2-liters of water to boil. Once it’s reached boiling point, add the sea salt. This raises the boiling point of the water, which will be lowered anyway, once you add the pasta. So, once the salted walter boils, add the linguine. Cook until al dente, depending on the package instructions. Drain, but preserve half a cup of pasta water for the squid-ink sauce. Boil some water and in a bowl, place the sugar snap peas and the boiling water for 1-2 minutes before draining. Set aside.

I like sugar snap peas because it adds crunch/texture and colour to the dish. You can, of course, use regular peas; they won’t be crunchy but will be green and pretty.

Make the scallops last

Use a clean kitchen towel to pat dry the scallops on all sides. Leave the scallops on the kitchen towel after drying. Heat a frying pan, or better yet a cast-iron griddle, to medium-high heat and melt a tablespoon of butter in it. As you heat up the pan, season your scallops with salt and pepper. You may have to panfry the scallops in batches. Before the butter browns, add the scallops to the frying pan. Fry 2-3 minutes on each side, then remove from heat, onto a warm plate.

Assemble everything

In a mixing bowl, add the warm linguine in pasta water and sauce, and mix the two together until the linguine is evenly coated in the black sauce. Add the drained sugar snap peas and assemble the scallops on top. Garnish with chives.